Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-11-30

e death river diamond gayly me =
on bracelet four singing
instantly cherry . the the
= 4 9 N OF d 81 A. q
1t appeared to me that the first thing
had to consider was the relation, if any,
that the alphabetical letters and figures
bore to the words to which they formed
frame. did not lose sight of the sug-
gestion which Immediately arose that this
frame work of figures and alphabetical
letters might be placed there as blind,
although the evident care and pains which
had been bestowed upon them was opposed
to the suggestion. But then, again, the
care thus exercised might be intended to
more deeply mystify any strange person
into whose hands the missive might fall.
In order not to deface or mutilate the
original, I made two exact copies OF it for
my own purposes, using as a kind OF
ruler one of the playing cards which DR..
Daincourt had also found in Mabel Rut-
lands desk
There were two words in the missive
which soon attracted me. These were the
third word, 'diamond," in the fifth line,
and the second word, "bracelet," in the
sixth line. Diamond bracelet" did
not doubt that this was the diamond
bracelet which Mr.. Rutland had presented
to his daughter, and which she could not
wear at the dinner party because it was
not at that time in her possession. Here,
then, was clew, but here stopped. No
ingenuity that I could bring to bear en-
abled me to connect other words with
'tdiamond bracelet" I cudgelled my
brains for at least half an hour. Then all
at once it occurred to me (what in the ex-
citement Of my pursuit may very well
be excused for not having thought Of be-
fore) that the playing card, the nine OF
hearts, must bear some relation to the
missive I placed it upon the paper.
Every word was hidden by the surface of
the card; only the figures and the alpha
betical letters were visible. "Doubtless,"
thought I, 'if cut out the pips of u nine
of hearts, and place it upon the paper,
shall see certain words which will form
the subject matter upon which Eustace
Rutland wrote to his sister," In that
case the mystery was confined to nine
words, which, whatever their arrange
ment, would not be too difficult to intel
ligibly arrange. I would not mutilate
Miss Rutland's playing cards. l had
packs of my own in the house, and from
these selected the nine Of hearts and cut
out the pips. 1t was not an easy matter,
and in my eagerness I pretty effectually
destroyed the surface of my table; but
that did not trouble me. My interest was
now thoroughly aroused, and grew keener
when, placing the nine of hearts upon
Eustace Rutland's mystery letter, found
these words disclosed:
Observation-Disclosures
me-instantly-the.
Here, then, in these nine words, was the
communication which Eustace Rutland
intended his sister to understand. cop
led them on separate sheet of paper and
arranged them in different ways until 1
arrived at their correct solution:
''Dcath stares me in the face, send
money instantly"
Congratulating myself upon my clever
ness, came to the conclusion that Eustace
Rutland, being banished from his fathers
house and not being able to obtain from
his father the funds necessary for his dis
reputable career, was taking advantage of
his sisters devoted affection for him, and
was in the habit of calling upon her to
supply him with money, which, no doubt,
the young lady did to the best Of her abil-
ity. Curiosity led me to the task of ell
deavoring to discover whether the alpha
betical letters and the figures in the frame
work bore any relation to this communi-
cation. With only the nine words ex-
posed through tho pips of the nine OF
hearts which had cut away, saw that
the first word, "death," was the sixth,
and the second word, "stares," was the
second, and the third word, ''me," was the
seventh. The sequence of the figures,
therefore, was 6, 2, Z. Now, how were
these three figures arranged In the frame
work? The figure came after the letter
NJ, the figure 2 came after the letter X,
the figure came after the letter II. Sat
isfied that had found the key, began to
study how these figures from to 9, rep
resenting the nine words in the COM
munication and the nine of hearts in the
playing card, were arranged in the frame
work in such a manner as to- lead an in
formed person at once to the solution.
luClc IluSu US u olth IlIte, pOlbo Nleii
both Eustace and his sister Mabel were
acquainted. What was this starting
point? One of the letters Of the alphabet.
What letter? A. Starting, then, from A
in the framework, found that the figures
from l to ran thus: &, 2, 7, 3, 8, l, a,
5, s. Upon following, in this order, the
course of the words which were exposed
by the playing card with the nine pips cut
out, I came to the conclusion that l had
correctly interpreted this first mystery
letter. Twas very pleased, believing that
the key had discovered would lead me to
O correct reading of Eustace's second and
third letter to his sister.
So absorbed had I been in the unravcl-
ing of this mystery letter, which occupied
me u good hour and half, that had lost
sight during the whole of that time of the
two words which had at first enchainctl
nv attention - diamond bracelet. :"
death stares me in the face, send money
Instantly" had appeared to me so reason
able a construction to be placed upon the
communication of man VINO must often
have been in u desperate strait for want of
funds, that the thought did not obtrude
itself that these words might be merely q
blind, ano that, in the words that re-
mained after the obliteration of this SEN
tence, the correct solution was to be found.
The longer considered, the stronger be-
came my doubts; with diamond brace
let" staring me in the face, felt that l
had been following q Will-o'-the-wisp.
had asked DIR. Dainoourt the date OF
the dinner party at which Mr.. RUTLAND!
had detected the absence Of the diamond
bracelet on his daughters arm. That
date was the 9th OF September. exam
ined the postmark on the envelope OF Eus'
tace Rutland's first communication; 1t
was the 2Gth of September. Mr.. Rutland
had laid upon his daughter the injunction
that the diamond bracelet was to De